Manufacture of elements for secondary batteries



No. 625,287. Patented May I6, |899.

C. BRAULT. MANUFACTUBE 0F ELEMENTS F03 CONDARY BATTERIES.

(Application led Dec. 2 98.)

NO Model.)

JIM/Haifa?? Zewlerul Fries'.

nfrnnfr CAMILLE BRAULT, OF CLICHY, FRANCE.

MANUFGTR @F ELEMENTS FR SECONDARY BATTERIES.

SPEGIFIGAEION forming part of Letters Patent No. 625,287, dated May 16, 1899.

pplication'led December 29, 1898,

To all will/crave it may concern:

Be it known that l, CAMILLE Essonne. citizen of France, residing at 18 Ouai de Clichy,

Clichy, France, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufae' lidity and strength.

Each plate or element is formed,essen tially, of' a number of small pieces or tablets'of agglomerated lens-shaped active material or material to he rendered active, irmly held between the hars of two grids. ci lead or of lead alloyed with antimony, made by casting,

stamping, or other suitable means. They arci formed of a number of longitudinal Aand transverse hars triangular in cross-section and inclosing, preferably, rectangular spaces tobe filled with the active material or material to be rendered active. Each plate or4 element is provided with two diiierent grids. One grid hasholes atthe intersection of its! bars, the othergrid having conical projections for entering theholes of the first grid.

Figure 1 represents a plan and -section oit'v au upper grid, 'and Fig;` 2' a plan and section of a" lower. grid, empio'yed in` forming the ac-` cumulator plates or elements. Fig. 3 is a sectional view representing. the manner of arranging thegrids audplate-forrning material ina mold, and Fig. 4 is a similarfviewshowing' the two grids andinterposed material forced together by closing downy the moldcover;

The active material ormaterial to be rendered active is prepared in the following peculiar way, which l will now'fnlly describe. I make an intimate mixture of oxid of lead (ltharge) with about ten per cent. of sulfate of calcium or other alkali-metalA salt or alkali-earth-metal 'saltpsucm for example, as sulfate, nitrate, or phosphate of sodium, potassium, calcium, or magnesium. When preparing-the material for the negative plates, I add to -tliis 'mixture one to three per cent. of double chlorid of platinum and mercury'. After these materials have' been lwell mixed I sexo1 No. 700.659. (no Speelman.)

work up orknead them in about ten percent. of distilled water in a hermetically-closed vessel provided with two orifices, by which ainmonia-gas is caused to pass through the material during the kneading, the gas enteringby one of the said orifices and passing out by the other. Under the iniiuenceof the ammonia-gas absorbedin part by the water contained in the now 'pasty mass the said mass gradually becomes hard and commences to solidify. When this takes place,I remove the material from-'the vessel and I spread it in thin layers on tables vor other supports and allow it to dryin the air. ',Io hasten the dryf ing, afstreamjoffdry cold air may be passed over the.material,. but the use of heat for this purpose should be avoided; When thoroughly dry, the niaterislis pulver-ized, (which may be ldone in an ordinary crushing-mill and it is then readyfoxpuse in the manner hereinafter described With the materialfsoprepared I manufacture the plates'or elements as follows: In a rectangular-mold M, Fig. 3, I place a gridG, (formed with projections, asaf'oresaid,) and I then place in `the'm'old the powder prepared as hereinbefore described, and I level the surface ofthe powder, and then I place a second grid Gi (formed with holes-as aforesaid) in position over the first grid, so that the holes in the upper grid come over the 'projections on the lower grid.- I then place an upper part orcover N, accurately fitting the mold, on the upper grid G2, and the whole is then subjected to strong pressure, so that the upper part -or cover enters the mold and forces the two sys grids intocontaot and causes the projections of the lower grid to be riveted into the openings of the upper grid. The plate thus obtained is shown, Fig. 4. .The spaces in the grids are thus lled with tablets P of stronglyagglomerated material. These tablets are lens-shaped, and they are held irmly between the bars of .the grids, as illustrated. After the plate has been removed from the mol I place it in abath of water slightly acidul ted with sulfuric acid and allow it to remain therein for several hours. It isthen removed and dried in the air. To connect the plates together, the positiveand4 nog;z Lv e plates are` soldered, respectively, to two lea'dor equivalent bars ,constituting tho two poles of the IOC ' vening spaces rodsrof glass, Celluloid, or ebonite or perforated and corrugated sheets of eboni'te/ or celluloid. The formation Aof the secondary battery is then completed in any well-known or suitable manner.

When liquid ammonia is used for makinga. pasty'mass in the preparation of active'maserial for' accumulator-plates, the reactions 1between the constituent elements are rough and sudden, whereas if the pasty mass is prepared with water and if itis afterward shaken in a closed vessel traversed by a flow of gaseous ammonia the reactions instead of being rough or sudden will be progressive and slow, and thus I, obtain an active mass that diders in its properties from that obtained by the use of liquid ammonia. l The plates prepared With gaseous ammonia are-of greater solidity-that is' to say, they are capable of supporting more charges and discharges,.whi1e having, nevertheless, the same capacity as X ther plates. i

` What I claim is The method of preparing an active material for accumulator-plates, Whichconsists'in subjecting a mixture of leadv oxid, alkali-metal Il salt, and Water, to the slow and progressive action of a, iow of gaseous ammonia through said mixture, substantially as described..

In testimony ywhereof I have hereunto'set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses. A

. CAMILLE BRAULT.-

Witnesses: j

EDWARD P.- .MACLEAm ALFRED IREY; 

